-Walk with me-

Unsealed

            A week has gone by since the midsummer festival. Since that day, Taehyung and Suji had opened up a lot to each other; it turns out that once you broke down Taehyung’s wall and he got comfortable with you he’ll show a complete different side of himself. She had been skeptical of his little outbursts before she realised that it was a quirky part of his personality but now it never failed to make her laugh (or at least crack a smile).

            It was nearing the end of their shift and Suji was finally able to catch a breath after the lunch-rush and when Sanghoon decided to retire into his office. The store was mostly quiet with the only customers getting their items checked out at the register by Taehyung. Suji was by the further aisles near the glass windows where she was restocking some items. Her position gave her a good view of the bench where she had first seen the girl with the camera from last week. The strange girl has been showing up every few days and whenever she did, she would sit outside for a few long hours before disappearing off somewhere. Suji had no clue what to think of it, but she did know that she felt somewhat unsettled about it when she recalled the night where she was seemingly following her and Taehyung. She debated whether she should ask Taehyung about it, he seemed to have taken notice of the girl too but for whatever reason he seemed to just ignore it as if she weren’t there at all; in the end, she chose not to as though strange she has been harmless so far.

            “Suji! What day is it today?” Taehyung shouted all of a sudden from across the store. She winced from volume of his voice and slowly turned around to face him with a suspicious look on her face. The customers were gone, and he was grinning from ear-to-ear.

            “Um Saturday?” she felt a small irritation when he smirked haughtily. “What? Was that a trick question or something?”

            “No, you’re not wrong,” he quickly said when he noticed she looked dubious. “… But today will also be the day where I’ll show you around.”

            “Really?” she looked skeptical. “I thought you forgot about that.”

            “Never,” he scoffed exaggeratedly. “Kim Taehyung always keeps his promises.”

            “Right, I’ll take you up on that then.”

            There it was, the small smile that he was anticipating. He was pleased to see the smile more frequently than before. Without him even realising, Taehyung has been slowly beginning to fall for her charms. After all, he wasn’t the type to just invite any girl out if he didn’t have at least a small interest.

            When they got off their shifts, they got changed into their casual wear and headed to the train station. It was the same path that they’ve taken for the past month but this time they wouldn’t part at the concourse and she’ll finally see the rest of Seoul. That thought made Suji giddy because she had always wondered about the city (and though she’s one month behind schedule), she can finally fully appreciate her new hometown. They got on Suji’s usual train and he explained that downtown was usually busy during the weekends and it’d be fun to look around.

            The downtown district was glorious; Suji had seen on television the grand shopping and entertainment districts but being there was something else entirely. There was so much to see and the amount of people was absolutely staggering. Like Taehyung had told her, the streets were packed with young adults looking to have a good Saturday evening. They had been walking around for the last two hours already, and while she enjoyed just looking around she also quickly learned that she couldn’t afford anything in this area of town if she wanted to keep a roof over her head.

            “You know… If I had known that everything was so expensive I would have tried to save up or something,” Suji murmured slowly as they looked through another store.

            “I guess I should have told you,” he smiled apologetically. “… Do you see something you like?”

            “Nothing for me particularly,” she shrugged slightly as she put down the ornament she was thumbing. “I was just surprised. Things here are so expensive.”

            “Well this is kind of the more wealthier area of the city,” he led her out of the store and through the streets. “I don’t come here very often but it’s worth a look if you’re new in town.”

            “Well there’s no arguing that,” she nodded as she eyed the colourful bright stores with wonder. “I definitely want to come back with some money. I see some things that I wouldn’t mind sending back as souvenirs…”

            Taehyung watched the way her eyes seem drift away at the mention of her family but as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared just as quickly as she snapped her attention to him. He realised that she must have felt his eyes on her and was waiting for a reply. 

            “Yeah… let’s come back again when we have money,” he cleared his throat quickly before pointing ahead. “You know, our university actually isn’t far from here. Around fifteen minutes away by bus.”

             Her gaze trailed towards the area he was pointing at and no